Iron Clad
by Bamfbugboy
Summary: Titania Hawke has fancied a certain apostate fugitive for the past three years. After laying awake each night wishing he was there to provide her company, she takes the first step and confesses her feelings for him down in the dark, dank city beneath Kirkwall.


"Feeding cats?"

Anders glances over his shoulder with a blush on his face. He smiles sheepishly.

"I promise they are uninvited guests, but I can't help it. Better they raid my stores and acquire my attention than be eaten down in these lower levels."

Hawke nods and kneels down beside him. One of the large cats has black and orange fur, and two kittens lap on either side of her. Hawke gently brushes her gloved fingers over the cat's back.

"Such beautiful fur."

"Tabitha is a calico, she—"

"Tabitha? I thought they were uninvited guests?"

Anders laughs and his blush deepens. "They are rather hard to resist, what can I say?"

Hawke smiles. She's always had a soft spot for animals big and small.

"When we lived in Lothering we always had extra guests, whether the birds, stray cats, dogs…we rescued our dog and we used to have a cat, but she sadly didn't escape the Blight."

Anders frowns and nods sympathetically. "My apologies."

Hawke stands and folds her arms across her armored chest. She looks around the small clinic and sees two patients resting.

"I'm sorry our work has kept you from taking care of these people." As always, Hawke's voice is calm and diplomatic. "I know how much they need you."

"I manage, and they understand. I've taught many of the people here how to handle most of the simple injuries and maladies they may face. They understand, and they're grateful that you, myself, and the others are working for their interests."

Anders stands and brushes off his robes. He walks away a short distance, running his fingers absentmindedly along the single table in the clinic.

"I wanted to thank you again for your help against Ser Alrik."

"I will not stand aside and let innocents be harmed. The Circle is a way of protecting mages, and though templars may be regarded as more powerful, it does not give them the right to abuse that power."

"Your sister is lucky to have you."

"Anders, I love my sister, but I stand for more than her alone. Apostates have a right to freedom and happiness like everyone else. You, Bethany, Ella, Merril, all of the people we have helped, together."

Anders looks up and looks into her light blue eyes. He smiles to himself and nods.

"You are too good for me."

Hawke smiles half-heartedly. "I want to see you safe. I carry the sword in order to protect."

"And you charge in without a shield, if you are not careful, Hawke, you may find yourself under my care."

She grins and shrugs. "I am in no better hands under your care."

Though Anders knows she's flirting, he still cannot grasp the fact that she is not afraid of him or worried—she's flirting with him as if he isn't a man who carries a spirit inside of his body. He knows she's an incredibly strong woman, but he still worries for her. He knows that she could have any man or woman's hand in all of Kirkwall and surely beyond.

"Hawke, I—"

"Anders, I mean it."

Anders shakes his head and sighs.

"You saw what I nearly did to Ella. If I…if I had hurt you, if I had lost control—"

"Anders, I am a woman clad in steel, I am not helpless."

"Even so, I worry. The thought of turning on you and fighting makes my skin crawl."

"What isn't iron clad, however, is my heart." Hawke frowns and pounds her fist against the metal plating. "I trust you. I know your skills, and I know that you are more than Justice."

Anders stops slouching, and he stands up straighter, as if her words have inspired him to join the fray.

"You wish to stay with me?"

"Yes, Anders."

He steps closer to her and hesitantly places a hand on her shoulder's epaulet.

"When you walked into this clinic wearing this armor three years ago, I knew I had met a woman with no equal." Anders' eyes fall half-lidded as he looks down at her. "What would you have of me, Hawke?"

"A kiss," she whispers.

Anders doesn't hesitate this time. He pulls her forward and kisses her with passion unrestrained. Hawke can feel the magic flow through him, for he is its vessel, and it radiates from him. As their lips frantically and breathlessly meet over and over, Anders pushes her back up against the lone pillar in his clinic. His pliant body meets all of her sharper edges, and his heart races in his chest. Hawke can feel it as if it were her own pulse.

Anders seems to wake from his passion when he hears her moan his name. He takes a small step back and Hawke simply reels him back in. She holds his robes tightly, and she holds him close.

Anders blushes. "I…"

"Shh," she places a finger against his lips. "I've longed for you for a long time, Anders. You have fought by my side, shared my campfires and my stories, mended my little wounds, watched me grow over these years. You have stood at my side since the very beginning, and I want you to know how I feel. I have had so many chances over these three years, and I sqaundered them, but I can no longer resist now."

Anders stares at her with narrowed eyes as he studies her. He can't grasp her emotion for him, and it makes him both incredulously happy and shocked too. His heart races in his chest.

"Would you truly have me, a fugitive apostate? Would you truly be happy? I am a wanted man with so little to give, and it's not enough, you deserve so much more, but…what I do have, Hawke is yours."

"My own father said similar words to my mother so long ago," Hawke says as she runs her fingers over his stubble. "My mother faced ridicule and shame for marrying an apostate. Her parents did not understand. I am my mother's daughter, and I too have fallen in love with an apostate."

Anders' jaw slackens. "You love me?"

"I love you," she whispers as she nuzzles her neck against his. She lays kisses there, and she would spend the rest of the afternoon kissing him if not for the stirring of one of the patients in the room. "Come to my home."

Anders gasps and runs his hand down her back. "You would have me…us…"

"I want you, Anders," she breathes into his ear. "My door will be open."

"I…I want you too, Hawke…I merely don't want anything to go wrong. I'm serious. I am working on controlling Justice, but if I see your door closed, I will know that you have reconsidered."

"If you want me as bad as I want you, then come." Hawke says firmly. "I am past the stage of holding in my feelings for you Anders. I would shout it to Meredith herself and have her dare to strike me down. I am not afraid. I was born a warrior and I will always be one, and I am not going to let this society and it's rules and it's faulty laws hinder me. This city is corrupt, this city is plagued with crime and death, and I have worked hard to see it improved—but my patience for Kirkwall stops when I look at you and Bethany. My love for you both cannot be constrained by chains."

Anders has to pick up his jaw off of the floor. He stops gaping at her and pulls her into his arms. He cups her cheek and she leans into his palm as he kisses her with more fervor. He manages to make this woman, his Hawke, weak in the knees, and he holds her up with a chuckle.

"I will come to your estate," he says while running his finger over her ear lobe and then through her short white hair. "And I will have you…Titania."

"Good." She smiles and readjusts his robes. They part, and she bows her head. "Until later, then."

"Until later."


End file.
